Hopefully this is an end to a very year for Honduras. The elections were held Sunday and by 7 PM, they announced that Pepe Lobo, the Blue Party candidate, won the presidency. The Blue Party is the conservative party here akin to US Republicans. Typically the Red Party, known as the liberales or liberals, fare much better than they did; but nobody wants a repeat of what happened under the former Red Party President Zelaya, whom formed strong ties with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and did whatever he could to become dictator and usurp democracy in Honduras.

      There was a backlash against the liberales/liberals all around the country, right down to our own mayor, whom was not re-elected. Frankly, I'm as excited about booting the old mayor as we are about putting "Mel" Zelaya behind. Hopefully the new mayor will take a stronger stand against crime and clean up some corruption in the police office. Aside from the obvious, the problems with Zelaya have wrought havoc on the economy while missionaries and tourists stayed away in droves this year. Many businesses are failing or have already failed as a result.

Hasta la vista,

      Marcos